Posted on 04/18/2002 11:08:21 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Five civilian workers at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins have filed a reverse discrimination lawsuit in federal court.
The five white males claim that they have been victims of a quota system in job evaluations in the suit, which could have a far-reaching effect on the Department of Defense. The workers charge in the lawsuit, filed this month in Macon, that their annual appraisals were downgraded while certain minority and female workers were given preferential treatment in their appraisals. The suit also charges that the Air Force sanctioned the practice to maintain a predetermined level of racial and gender diversity.
The charges are based on intercepted e-mails from supervisors that detail the practice, according to the men's attorney, Lee Parks of Atlanta. Parks recently won a reverse discrimination lawsuit against the University of Georgia that forced the school to abandon an admissions policy that in some cases favored minority students.
The Robins suit is broader than the UGA ruling, Parks said, and could involve not just the Air Force but the entire Department of Defense.
"It could be one of the biggest scandals the Department of Defense has ever faced," he said.
Air Force officials in Washington referred questions about the suit to Robins. Officials at the Middle Georgia base declined to speak in detail, but in a statement they defended the appraisal system.
"We remain firmly convinced that the credible evidence will demonstrate that the civilian appraisal system, as applied in the subject organization, was appropriately followed," said Michael O'Hara, the base civilian personnel officer.
Rumors of a quota system at Robins have been circulating since at least the mid-1980s, said officials with the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 987.
"There has never been any proof," said Bill Haas, a spokesman for the 2,300-member union. "There has never been any validation until these [e-mail] documents were uncovered."
According to the lawsuit, in an April 19, 2001, e-mail a supervisor directed a subordinate supervisor "to more balance the ethnic groups" in the annual appraisals in his division. The e-mail suggests raising the ratings of two minority males while downgrading the appraisals of one non-minority female and five non-minority males.
The five men -- Willie Barber, Bill Bobbitt, Danny Kilgore, Samuel Rawlins and Dwight Stone -- became the plaintiffs; they declined to comment. All are veteran employees of a division that writes and develops software to test systems that go into aircraft.
The five filed a complaint with the base Equal Employment Opportunity office in August, and the matter was brought to the attention of Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.). Because the suit was filed, Cleland press secretary Patricia Murphy said, "That takes it out of our hands and puts it exclusively in the hands of the court."
The division in which the men work is part of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, which has among its responsibilities the repair and modification of aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle, C-130 Hercules, C-5 Galaxy and all Air Force helicopters.
Robins is considered the largest industrial complex in Georgia, with about 25,000 military and civilian workers and an annual economic impact of more than $3.2 billion, according to the governor's Military Affairs Coordinating Committee.
Parks said base officials have indicated that the appraisal system in question was confined to that one division, but he disputed this.
"It is very difficult to believe that something this sophisticated was limited to one supervisor," he said. "The reason [for the system] is to meet [a] diversity matrix. How do you defend this?"
Donald Thompson, president of Local 987, said a system that favors diversity over actual performance affects not only pay raises and promotions but also retirement benefits.
The suit has not stopped or altered the appraisal system, said Faye Williams, a base spokeswoman. "Robins is currently in the midst of another annual appraisal cycle for all 13,000 civilian employees on base," Williams said in a statement.
Parks said he had been inundated with telephone calls from current and former base employees, which he said was an indication the practice had been in place for awhile. "There is bad intent in this case," he said, "whereas I didn't find that in the Georgia case."
....while admitting to no wrongdoing, of course...
Az
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